New Hope for Frazzled Parents

Ever prayed your kids would listen to you more? Ever wished your little one had more confidence? Ever despaired at your child's inability to concentrate?

If you answered ‘yes' to any of these questions, then renowned hypnotherapist Freddy Jacquin has the answer: a course to help parents encourage children to be the best they can.

‘I spend my life encouraging people to overcome their phobias and limitations and helping them achieve their goals,' explains Freddy. ‘I use exactly the same techniques with my own two boys, whether it's encouraging them to listen to their teacher more or to be kind to others. One day it hit me: if these techniques work for adults and they work for my kids, they can be used by other parents to help their children with anything from bed-wetting to anorexia, from exam confidence to social skills.'
Freddy has teamed up with local parenting expert Siobhan Stirling to structure a course they claim will benefit any parent. Living in Langton Green, Siobhan is an established parenting and child-development journalist and author of ‘Sleep: Helping Your Child Sleep Through the Night'.

‘We've called the technique Potensharu, which is the Japanese for potential, because that's what it's all about: enabling parents and their children to be the best they can be,' adds Freddy.

The pair ran a pilot course last year to get an initial response to their techniques. ‘The feedback was amazing,' says Siobhan. ‘All the parents reported ‘improvements' in their children, whether that was being more focused on their school work, less bossy with their peers or more confident in new situations. That didn't surprise us. But what did surprise us was the changes to the parents themselves: they all became more relaxed and confident - and they all began to enjoy their children more.'

Liz Mankelow, from Langton Green, mum to Luke, five, and Isobel, four, says the skills she learnt through the course helped both her children: ‘Luke has always been sensitive, but he was really lacking in confidence, dreading going to school. He now takes things far more in his stride. Isobel was finding it hard to adjust to starting school and me starting work, so she became jealous and clingy. The new methods I learned helped me to treat her differently so she felt more secure and settled.'

So how does it work? ‘People think hypnotherapy is a lot of voodoo with swinging watches, but it's nothing like that,' explains Freddy. ‘The course works by teaching parents to recognise when their children are in their most receptive learning states and how to adapt their language to encourage what they want to see in their child.' Freddy has helped more than 25,000 people quit smoking over the last decade and now with Potensharu he is hoping to help even more.‘

I know parents will get results from this, because we've tried it and it works,' he says. ‘Now I'm looking forward to giving even more people the chance to learn these simple techniques that can transform the way they relate to their children and how their children see themselves.'

Article written for Summer 2008 issue by